Tag: Salvation

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A Sobering Thought

I was reminded of a sobering thought today. I was looking through old documents I had written to see if there was something that God would use to speak to me. But instead, I found an MP3 audio file from a few years ago. I very seldom record my thoughts. I used to, but I learned that God wanted me to write them out while they were fresh in my mind. I have a big file of Letters to Myself. So I listened to the recording to see what was so important that I recorded it.

Psalms 36:7, “How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.”

It is hard to describe the enormity of God’s love for us. The fact is he wants all of us to spend eternity with Him. God demonstrates this through His relentless passion for us by constantly pursuing us despite our condition. We can never become so degenerate or lowly that He will stop loving us.

1 John 4:9-10. “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

In the Dark of the Night

I recorded that message at four o’clock in the morning on an IMED trip while in Kyrgyzstan. It started to be about Andrey. Andrey was a student looking to expand his small construction business. Andrey has spent time in a Russian prison. His relationship with God was of the tough love type. God loved him unconditionally, but God had rules, just like everyone. In Andrey’s life, anything that came easy wasn’t worth having. He had spent his life overcoming. There was something about that man I loved. But he dropped out of the program because he couldn’t understand why we had to know so much about him. His leaving deflated me because we could have done so much for him, and his testimony was incredible.

2 Timothy 1:9, “He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.”

I sometimes get off subject and have to serpentine my way back, I‘m told; here is the tie-in. In this recording, talking about Andrey made me think more about myself. I had built this narrative around my life that had to do with God loving me so much that He saved me so I could help others. I didn’t die in the Emergency Room because God had a plan for me. It was a plan to serve others and expand His Kingdom. Andrey taught me that it was a faults narrative. It wasn’t about High Tech Ministries, Champions for Life, International Mission Connection, or Roswell Day of Hope. All of that would have been just as effective without me.

The Sobering Thought

The sobering thought was this, had I died that night, I would have spent eternity separated from God. I would be in Hell. God could do everything I have done since then without me. He did not need me; I needed Him. I just didn’t realize it yet. It was several years before I fully understood that I needed Him. I spent the immediate years after getting my pacemaker lamenting my loss of invincibility. Before that night, I was bulletproof and invisible. There was nothing I could not achieve. Now I was battery operated.

1 John 3:1, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”

Andrey reminded me that he survived a Russian prison so that he could be saved. He didn’t see himself as the next Martin Luther. Instead, he saw himself as a child of God trying to please his Father. As Christians, we sometimes become arrogant in our beliefs. We start to think that we are one of the critical gears in God’s machinery. We can’t seem to accept that we exist because He loves us. Sure, He wants us to spread the Gospel, but His primary motivation is love for us.

1 John 4:16, “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”

We all have an expiration date. Unfortunately, we don’t know when that is. Sharing God’s story is so that others may be saved before it is too late. We don’t know when that is. We don’t know when that is for ourselves, our family, co-workers, and friends. God can do everything you have accomplished and more without you. We can not change His plan, but we can decide to be part of it.

Ecclesiastes 9:1, “So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them.”

Living is about getting to salvation and finding our way home and helping others find their way home. God loves us unconditionally; He wants to be with us for eternity. And that, folks, is a sobering thought.

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He died of a Broken Heart.

1 John 4:10, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

My dad passed away a year ago at the age of 92. My mother proceeded him by just a few months. Dad and Mom had been married 72 years. My father didn’t die of illness or accident; he just stopped eating. Without my mom at his side, there was no reason to go on.

This isn’t a new story. We hear it quite often. Love is such a powerful force that it can cause one to die from a broken heart. By the will of God that, I should go the same way.

Dane Ortlund, in his book Gentle and Lowly, describes the death of Christ on the cross as not physical death but one of a broken heart. He talks about Christ taking on the sum-total penalty for every lustful thought and deed coming from the heart of God’s people over eternity. He asks what physical torture is compared to the total weight of centuries of cumulative wrath absorbed? He goes on to talk about how it was the withdrawal of God’s love from His heart, not the withdrawal of oxygen from His lungs, that killed Him.

1 John 4:16, “We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”

This is a thought that is hard for me to comprehend. I know the anxiety and fear that follows every sin. It is either the remorse of my doing or fear of being found out. No sin goes unpunished or unnoticed. Every sin carries its price. We, as mere humans, begin to rationalize that it is the cost of being alive. No person is without sin or escapes their sin’s consequences.

 “No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good.” – C.S. Lewis

What if I had to carry the weight and consequences of not only my sin but the sin of my family; or my town. What if it was only my country? If I lose sleep over my actions, how much more sleep do I lose if I know and accept the burden of the sins of others.

I have often thought of Christ’s death for me as a transaction. My sin sat upon a table; God, through Christ, dished out currency and took my sin away. The currency was Christ’s death on the cross. When I read about the horrors of Christ’s suffering before the crucifixion, I thought it described how high that price was. My focus was on physical death. That was an enormous price for someone to pay for an undeserving soul like me.

John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. “

Dane Ortlund painted a different picture. It was a picture not of physical pain but emotional pain. When I think of losing someone dear to me, it is a deep throbbing pain that no prescription will erase. People turn to medication, drugs, and alcohol to deaden it. Like my dad, we can lose our desire to live.

Christ did that not just for you but for all of His people for all time.

John 13:1, “Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.”

Doing it for just one person takes more emotional strength than I can imagine. What was it like to feel all the fear and anxiety for everyone who lived? To do this freely because of His enormous love for those people. Every anguished cry across the millennia was being recapitulated and fulfilled through Christ. The voices in His head, the cries, the wailing, and their remorse all descending on Him to snuff out His light.

Christ did this without wavering. He looked directly into the very depths of Hell and did not wince. He saw the horde of evil descending on Him, and He marched on. My heart cries out for that level of love.

Today, we look within ourselves to see if Christ’s sacrifice was in vain. He died of a broken heart because of us. Can we say that the lives we are living are worth it?

1 John 4:11, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another?”

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Standing in the Gap

Ezekiel 22:30, “I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one.”

When I read this statement, I couldn’t help but feel sad. Imagine a point in time when you, and only you, stood between total destruction and life for a fellow human being. Think of what is going on in Ukraine, the destruction of property, families, and the destruction of cultures. Think of the lives of unbelievers who desperately need hope and salvation. Think of the most disreputable people in your life who don’t know Christ and imagine them existing for an eternity separated from Christ. Are you the person for which God is looking? Can you stand in the gap?

1 Peter 3:9, “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.”

We live our lives thinking that there will always be another day. We see risk around us, but it doesn’t deter us. We believe we will go on until someday in the distant future when we don’t. If we are honest with ourselves, we live a relative laissez-faire existence. We are so wrapped up in our issues and opportunities that we live a life of non-interference in the affairs of others. We pop in and pop out as time allows.

Romans 5:19, “For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.”

We do good and provide aid when it’s part of our plan. But, even when the moment is spontaneous, the decision to help is deterministic. We weigh the cost-benefit and decide how to spend our time. Time is precious, not to be spent on the undeserving or those who can help themselves but don’t.

2 John 1:6, “And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.”

We all have people in our lives that need salvation. Those we love we take on as “projects for their good.” We don’t always recognize that God may be telling us not now or not us. We stand in the gap for someone we love, even when the gap doesn’t exist at the moment. I want to address the person we don’t like because of their demeanor or lifestyle. The person we know is separated from God, but it is their decision, and frankly, we don’t care. We don’t have a personal relationship and don’t want one.

Colossians 4:5-6, “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”

What I am asking is, if this was your moment to change eternity for someone, even an enemy, would you step into the gap? It kind of sounds like a Jonah question, doesn’t it. Jonah understood who God was and what He could do, but it was the wrong people for him. So he would not stand in the gap for the Ninevites.

One of the lessons I remember from the story of Esther was not just all that she went through as God prepared her for her moment to step into the gap, but when the time arose for her to act, God reminded her that His plan would prevail even if she didn’t do her part. Therefore, even if she does not choose to stand in the gap for those God puts in front of her, God will act. But God will act to her detriment.

Esther 4:14, “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”

“The past is behind, learn from it. The future is ahead, prepare for it. The present is here, live it.” – Thomas S. Monson

We need to live our spiritual lives with a sense of urgency. It is God who saves, not us. But we should want to be part of His plan for others, even those we don’t want in our worldly sphere. They are God’s children, not yours. If you do your part, He will always do His, and even if you don’t, He will.

Stand firm in the gap.

Romans 2:6-8, “God “will repay each person according to what they have done.” To those who by persistence in doing good, seek glory, honor, and immortality, he will give eternal life.”

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Where Does Christmas Find You?

Ephesians 2:7, “Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus.”

The place you are right now, God circled on the map for you. – Hafiz (Persian Poet)

Where does Christmas find you? Are you with family and friends or stuck on the road somewhere? Is the day going as planned, full of joy, love and hope, or has it gone off track, frustrating and chaotic? Where will you be next week, next month, or next year? Are you where you planned to be, or has life taken a detour?

Ephesians 1:3-10, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.”

There is no perfect job, perfect relationship, or perfect life; there are only perfect moments. So don’t get lost looking for what will never be and miss what is.

Paul found himself marooned on Malta, Ester woke up serving a pagan King, Jonah was cast overboard in the middle of a storm, and Joseph was abandoned by his siblings. The shepherds found themselves kneeling in a stable at the foot of the Son of God. We all have a destiny that is not our own. It is a path set before us by the Lord of Lords, King of Kings. There will be days of clarity and joy; and there will be days of darkness and confusion. They are all written in the Book of Life by our creator; we only get to write the subplots.

Romans 8:29, “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”

God created us for the sole purpose of worshiping Himself. Therefore, everything we do is a form of worship. Every action is praise, rejection, or indifference, but worship all the same. We either acknowledge God’s presence in our daily walk, intentionally rebel against His authority, or treat Him with complete indifference.

1 Corinthians 3:16, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?”

Let me tell you about a man who failed, but still, his story lives on. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a pastor, theologian, and founding member of the Confessing Church. For those that do not know, the Confessing Church was an anti-fascist organization that opposed Hitler’s treatment of the Jews. It was said of him after his return from studying in America to Germany; “At this time he seems to have undergone something of a personal conversion from being a theologian primarily attracted to the intellectual side of Christianity to being a dedicated man of faith, resolved to carry out the teaching of Christ as he found it revealed in the Gospels.”

Dietrich was eventually hung for his involvement in the failed plot to assassinate Hitler on July 20, 1944. His life was much like many people’s lives with side trips and rabbit trails. But, in the end, his failure lived on as a testimony of Christian dedication against a cause that was so egregious it now lives in infamy. He was where God had circled on the map for him to be, what some might see as failure God glorifies.

Jonah’s voyage in the belly of a whale, Joseph’s sale into slavery, Ester’s banishment to Babylonia, Moses’ fall from Royalty to estranged Shepard are examples of God’s people being exactly where He wanted them when He wanted them to be there.

Matthew 12:30, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”

Will you use this moment to praise and worship the God of your creation, or will this moment pass unnoticed? Despite where you find yourselves will you acknowledge that it is through God’s providence that you exist at all. Will your act of worship be seen as praise by those around you, or will you be silent?

Christmas Day we celebrate an event that changed the history of man. No other event in the history of the planet earth has had the impact equal to the birth of Christ. This day celebrates a pivotal moment for humanity. The way all people, believers and non-believers, view morality and ethics was forever changed. That single event demonstrated that God did love all of us to the extent that He would bring His son to earth for the sole purpose of sacrificing Him for our sins. That alone should give you reason to pause.

Every day is Christmas. Every day is a celebration of the birth of Christ. Every day brings new opportunities to demonstrate the goodness of Christ regardless of our circumstances. Do we seize the day; do we seize the moment?

1 Peter 3:15, “But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.”

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Losing our Identity

John 8:32, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

One of the biggest struggles with most humans is identity. We are constantly bombarded with messages concerning what the world thinks of our image; intellectually, occupationally, physically, environmentally, or politically. Moreover, the advent of the internet and social media has caused this internal struggle to magnify. As a result, even the most secure among us have difficulty, at times, feeling uncomfortable in our own skin.

THERAPEUTIC IDENTITY

One of the significant outcomes is postmodern thinking; you have your truth, and I have mine. I gravitate to only the media that supports my point of view; I become more comfortable in my skin. Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist coined the term “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.” They defined it as “God exist and only wants us to be nice and to be happy.” Christians fall into this trap. Philip Rieff stated it this way in “The Triumph of Therapeutics,” man no longer sees himself as a pilgrim on a meaningful journey with others, but as a tourist who travels through life according to their own self-guided itinerary, with personal happiness the ultimate goal. Many people have become so overwhelmed by the caustic and bombastic environment we live in that all they want is harmony and peace, and they are willing to give up truth to get it.

John 16:13, “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.”

A Therapeutic Culture makes it a great sin to stand in the way of the freedom of others to find happiness as they wish. This therapeutic culture is the author of ethical and gender identity politics. It demonizes dissidents by marginalizing them as people who do not care for the rights and freedoms of others. Dissidents that seek truth do not believe in a just society; they put their view of truth above the truths of others. Dissidents set themselves up to be judges.

1 John 4:6, “We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of falsehood.”

Happiness has the right identity. Happiness is being the right person, for the right person, in the right way. All of this is defined by the individual. The book of Judges ends with this statement “each man did what he considered right.” The good news is that we are not the first generation to deal with this problem.

TRUE IDENTITY

 Milosz, and others, define ketman as a false stance adopted by a person “in order to find himself at one with others, in order not to be alone.”. Many of us assume ketman as a survival tool in our increasingly divergent society. We feel that we cannot openly state our views because of the social backlash that might permanently impact our lives. Once we are “canceled” as a source of information, any truth we might speak becomes null and void. To stay away from that future, we employ ketman.

2 Timothy 2:15, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”

Our identity is in Christ and Christ alone. This concept is a fundamental building block of who we are. Because of the current state of affairs, it is imperative we reinforce our identity through bible study, Christian community, and worship. We will never be able to defend the Gospel in and of ourselves; we need the power of the Holy Spirit. God made you according to His will that you might glorify Him. As a friend of mine reminds me, “God don’t make no Trash.” Through the Holy Spirit, you have all that you need to maintain your true identity. You have to stand firm in that resolve.

HOW DO WE PROCEED?

“A man convinced against his will is of the opinion still” – Dale Carnegie.

You cannot browbeat a person into permanent change. You can get them to acquest at the moment, but they will stray when your back is turned. We need to build relationships that create an environment of permanent change. We do this by listening. You cannot accurately address the concerns of others until you understand their problems from their point of view. I guess that you will find one of the most prevalent root causes is the lack of a positive identity. People have lost what it means to be created in God’s image.

Love conquers all. Even though we may have disagreements with others’ versions of the truth, we need to treat them with compassion and respect. We do not want them to remain in a state of sin, but they have free will. Patience is in order. They have moved to a position that their happiness is more important than truth. They need to understand that they can have both.

At a societal level, we need to combat the encroachment of postmodern therapeutics into our society. We need to be active at all levels attacking the issues, not the people; stay on topic. You will be demonized; it is part of the strategy; remember, “in your anger do not sin.” Please do not stoop to their level. Instead, engage the Holy Spirit at every turn. We are not the first to fight this battle and we will not be the last. In God’s economy it is about winning people to Christ, not overcoming worldly issues.

And always remember:

Romans 8: 38-39, “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

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